Legacy Metrics

1952 Arnott 500 F3

500/5racingUnited Kingdom

The Arnott 500 is a British Formula 3 single-seater built as a private venture by Daphne Arnott and George Thornton, constructed at the Arnott company's Harlesdon premises outside working hours. Powered by a JAP 498cc engine driving through a four-speed Norton gearbox via chain to the rear axle, this particular example dates to 1952 and has been raced continuously on circuits and in hillclimbs since. The 500 Owners Association has confirmed that it retains its original chassis.

Ownership

  1. 2023-02-24Auction sale
    Sold £17,500 (≈ $22K)

    Iconic Auctioneers catalogue lot →

  2. 1952 →Acquisition unknown
    R D Beenan
    partial documentation

    First recorded campaigner of the car, who raced it from 1952 onwards.

Competition

  1. 1952Formula 3 (500cc)
    Formula 3 circuit racing and hillclimbs
    Driver: R D Beenan

    Originally campaigned from 1952; the car has remained active in circuit racing and hillclimb events continuously since then.

Maintenance & restoration

No maintenance or restoration records.

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Each chassis record is compiled from public auction archives and links to its source material. Ownership, competition and maintenance entries are extracted from those catalogue listings by an LLM, which can make mistakes — please contact us with any corrections. The summary is Legacy Metrics’ own writing; we do not reproduce catalogue text.

“Full” and “partial” documentation labels indicate how well each entry is corroborated in the underlying sources, not an audit of the car’s physical paperwork. Names of recent or living owners are withheld for privacy.